Health Minister Joe Phaahla has appointed a five-member committee to adjudicate a challenge to the COVID-19 vaccination of adolescents aged 12 to 17, reports Business Day. The organisation Free the Children – Save the Nation has formally appealed the decision to approve vaccines for children, arguing this age group is effectively not at risk from the coronavirus so does not require vaccination.
Late last year, the organisation – with the ACDP, the Caring Healthcare Workers Coalition and COVID Care Alliance – launched an application before the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) seeking an urgent interdict to halt the roll-out of children’s vaccinations. The government’s decision to open COVID-19 vaccinations to children over 12 was in line with the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children of this age group and subsequent recommendations by the Ministerial Advisory Committee.
Under section 24A of the Medicines and Related Substances Act, the minister has appointed a five-member appeal committee to adjudicate on the matter. The members are Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi (chairperson), Professor Salim Abdool Karim, Dr Stephen Schmidt, Dr Herman Edeling and Professor Glenda Gray. The matter is set down to be heard between 11 and 14 February.
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Phaahla’s move on jabs for 12-year-olds without parental consent ruffles feathers